Council for the Future of Europe is a think tank, established in September 2011, initiated and supported by the Nicolas Berggruen Institute as one of its projects, in its manifesto calling for a political union of Europe:
A think tank, think factory or policy institute is a research institute/center and organization which performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most policy institutes are non-profit organisations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax exempt status. Other think tanks are funded by governments, advocacy groups, or corporations, and derive revenue from consulting or research work related to their projects.
...It will be necessary to further lay out a vision of a federation that goes beyond a fiscal and economic mandate to include a common security, energy, climate, immigration and foreign policy as well as develop a common narrative about the future of the union and its place in the world...
...Nation states will need to share certain dimensions of sovereignty to a central European entity that would have the capacity to source revenue at the federal level in order to provide European-wide public goods...
It aims to:
...recommend a way forward and then lobby for that course at the European Commission, the Council and Parliament as well as with the leaders of individual members states...
Founding members are: Tony Blair, Juan Luis Cebrián, Jacques Delors, Felipe González, Alain Minc, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Rodrigo de Rato, Nouriel Roubini, Gerhard Schröder, Michael Spence, Joseph Stiglitz, Matti Vanhanen, Guy Verhofstadt and Max von Bismarck.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997. As of 2017, Blair is the last UK Labour Party leader to have won a general election.
Juan Luis Cebrián Echarri is a Spanish journalist and businessman, the co-founder of El País, and CEO of Prisa, a Spanish media conglomerate.
Jacques Lucien Jean Delors is a French politician who served as the 8th President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. He served as Minister of Finance of France from 1981 to 1984. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1981.
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi) and an estimated population of about 513 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. For travel within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.
The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. The President of the Commission leads a cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the college, collectively accountable to the European Parliament, which is directly elected by EU citizens. The President is empowered to allocate portfolios amongst, reshuffle or dismiss Commissioners as necessary. The college directs the Commission's civil service, sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces.
The Western European Union (WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implemented the Modified Brussels Treaty. The WEU member states were also allies of the United States during the Cold War through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro (€) as their common currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem. The other nine members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them are obliged to adopt the euro in the future.
The President of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council, as well as a principal representative of the European Union (EU) on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the President of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member communions include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace churches. Together, they encompass more than 100,000 local congregations and 40 million adherents. It began as the Federal Council of Churches in 1908, and expanded through merger with several other ecumenical organizations to become the National Council of Churches in 1950.
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic, social and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its policies.
The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The Political and Security Committee, PSC is a permanent body within the European Union dealing with Common Foreign and Security Policy issues, including Common Security and Defence Policy.
The Solemn Declaration on European Union was signed by the then 10 heads of state and government on Sunday 19 June 1983, at the Stuttgart European Council held in Stuttgart.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is a membership organisation for owners of land, property and businesses in rural England and Wales.
Nicolas Berggruen is an investor and philanthropist. A dual American and German citizen, he is the founder and president of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company and the Berggruen Institute, a think tank that works on addressing governance issues as well as the cultures and philosophies behind political systems. Through the Berggruen Institute he is also a co-founder, with the Washington Post, of The WorldPost, a media publication dedicated to global issues.
There are five recognised candidates for future membership of the European Union: Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia. All except Albania and North Macedonia have started accession negotiations. Kosovo, whose independence is not recognised by five EU member states, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are recognised as potential candidates for membership by the EU. Bosnia and Herzegovina has formally submitted an application for membership, while Kosovo has a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, which generally precedes the lodging of membership application. In July 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker announced that the EU has no plans to expand before 2019 while Serbia and Montenegro, the most advanced candidates, are expected to join before 2025. While the others are progressing, Turkish talks are at an effective standstill.
On 21 June 2002, the Irish Government made a National Declaration at the Seville European Council emphasising its commitment to the European Union's security and defence policy.
The European Law Institute (ELI) is an independent non-profit organisation established to initiate, conduct and facilitate research, make recommendations and provide practical guidance in the field of European legal development with a goal of enhancing the European legal integration.
The idea of an ELI was inspired by the activities of the American Law Institute (ALI), founded in 1923 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Similar to the ALI, the ELI has individual members (Fellows) and Individual and Institutional Observers. Members of ELI include law professors, attorneys, judges and other professionals in the legal industry.
The Military Erasmus Programme, formally the European initiative for the exchange of young officers inspired by Erasmus, is an initiative undertaken by the European Union (EU) member states aimed at developing the exchanges between armed forces of future military officers as well as their teachers and instructors during their initial education and training. Due to the fact that the initiative is implemented by the Member States on a purely voluntary basis, their autonomy with regard to military training is not compromised.
The Euro summit is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone. It is distinct from the EU summit held regularly by the European Council, the meeting of all EU leaders.
The Berggruen Institute is an independent, non-partisan think tank which develops ideas to shape political and social institutions.
The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures and objectives. The EU can only act within the competences granted to it through these treaties and amendment to the treaties requires the agreement and ratification of every single signatory.
